A parish in an Indian arch-diocese established to serve a strictly endogamous communi-ty has taken the unprecedented step of permitting a member to marry a Catholic from another diocese. Sacred Heart Knanaya Catholic Church, Monippally, in the Archeparchy of Kotta-yam. Shijan Kaakkara via Wi-kimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0).
The pastor of St. Anne’s Knanaya Catholic Church in Kottody, Kerala State, report-edly issued a letter of permi-ssion April 15 to 31-year-old Justin John, who was engaged two days later to Vijimol Shaji, a member of the Archdiocese of Tellicherry.
John, who plans to marry in mid-May, is a member of the Archeparchy of Kottayam, a unique ecclesiastical circum-scription in southern India for members of the Knanaya ethnic group, who for almost 1,700 years have married exclusively within their community.
Knanaya men who marry Catholics outside the archepa-rchy are usually no longer regarded as members of the archeparchy and are expected to join a non-Knanaya parish.
Indian media described the granting of permission to John as a historic step that could signal the death knell for the archeparchy’s marriage rules.
Spanish bishops speak out after leaks of their meeting with Leo XIV
The executive committee of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, (CEE, by its Spanish acronym) meeting in Madrid this week, issued an official statement regarding the leaks
